They visited the country's major newspapers, looked in on offices of Israel television and Kol Israel radio (both the Hebrew and Arab sectors), inspected one of the Internet service stations in the north of the country and toured the Old City of Jerusalem and the holy places around the Sea of Galilee. They were 24 participants who came to Jerusalem from ten African countries - Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe - to take part in an international seminar on "Development of an Independent Press in Africa."
The seminar, part of a program on Management of Press Enterprise, within
the framework of Education toward Democracy, was held at the Aharon Ofri
International Study Centre at Kibbutz Ramat Rahel near Jerusalem and
organized by MASHAV, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Centre for
International Cooperation, in conjunction with UNESCO, under the
academic auspices of the New School of Media Studies in Tel Aviv. With
12 annual seminars and courses on diverse subjects conducted at the
Study Centre, this media seminar was the last one for the calendar year
1996.
In addition to learning about the communication system of Israel, the
participants met with Israeli professionals in the field of written and
electronic media, and delved into subjects such as, among others, the
Technology of Media, the Relationship between Politics and Media, the
Middle East and the Israeli Media, Legal Aspects and Media, the Process of
Decision Making for Editing a Newspaper, and Marketing a Newspaper.
This is just one example of courses in education provided by the Aharon
Ofri International Study Centre. "We deal with education in the wide sense
of the word," says Uzi Israeli, the Centre's director. "We are constantly
on the lookout for new, relevant themes."
He explains that at present the Centre deals with three main domains and
their subdivisions:
- Education and Technology
- the use of computers in education
- education for science - on pre-school, primary and high school levels
- vocational and technological education
- the use of audio-visual instruments in education
- the use of high tech didactic instruments
- Education and the Community
- the role of community schools in education
- the role of community centres in education
- social and education aspects in neighbourhood rehabilitation
- Adult Education
- reading and writing
- teaching a second and/or national language
- parental guidance in education
- vocational training for adults
All these subjects are interrelated, says Uzi Israeli, who prior to
becoming director of the Study Centre in 1993 spent years as a teacher and
inspector within the Israeli educational system. The emphasis is on the
interrelationship of the various themes. "We cannot talk about education
for science or about adult education without taking into consideration the
needs and resources of the community." In effect, he adds, that is the
philosophy of the Centre.
The type of courses vary. There are eight annual seminars offered by
MASHAV, others conducted in cooperation with UNESCO (the example of the
above media seminar is one of them). In addition, there are tailor-made
national courses, planned in accordance with the needs of the particular
country. The countries in the past year which have taken advantage of this
latter program have been Chile, Colombia and Panama. One of their fields of interest was teaching mentally-retarded and culturally-deprived children.
All these courses, workshops and seminars last between one and one and a
half months. But there are also one-week to ten-day observation and
study visits on specific topics, such as agricultural education,
education for gifted or physically-handicapped children - meant for high
level delegations of senior educators from various countries. A recent
such high-level delegation came from China to observe and study how
Israeli educators deal with gifted children. Delegations from Turkey and
India were interested in computer education, while teaching the Latvian
language in the framework of adult education was the concern of experts
from Latvia.
Education for Science and Technology is the subject of the first
one-month seminar in the new 1997 year. Intended for senior staff of the
educational system, policy makers, inspectors and academic researchers
in the field of science and technology education, the seminar has as its
objectives to:
- analyze the place and role of scientific and technological education
in national development;
- get familiar with new concepts, methods and tools concerning science
and technology teaching;
- acquire knowledge about and presentation of various educational projects
and curricula used in Israel (policy, didactic and administrative aspects,
teachers' training, etc.);
- exchange experiences and knowledge attained in the countries of
origin of the participants.
Study tours to schools at all levels, as well as to technological and
agricultural institutions, universities, teachers' training colleges and
pedagogical resource centres are envisaged, in addition to individual
study tours in accordance with the needs and priorities of each
participant.
The question of what contribution can science and technology make for the
working and personal life of both boys and girls so that they will be
flexible and adapt to rapid changes and new technologies in the future will be examined in this seminar. In addition, there will be discussions on subjects such as interdisciplinary science education, materials and new
methods for science teaching, and the training of teachers on the use of
simple low-cost and modern technologies in education, including the use of
computers within the teaching-learning process.
Another seminar planned for 1997 deals with the Prevention of Drug Abuse.
Main topics of the course will include information, preventive educational
activities within schools, psychological counselling as well as youth
rehabilitation services, informal education and special programs for youth
and young adults. Furthermore, lecturers and course participants will deal
with treatment and rehabilitation - day centres, prison services,
therapeutic communities and Israeli models of treatment frameworks. On the
agenda, too, is research and information analysis of updated situations,
surveys of changing trends and the impact of various campaigns.
The course, intended for educators, social workers, directors of
rehabilitation and treatment centres, researchers and high-level law
enforcement officers, will include trainees from various countries, who
will present different facets of the problem and then analyze the
alternatives for dealing with solutions. Particular emphasis is being
placed on this course, since during the past few years, drug and alcohol
abuse among the world's youth has become a troubling phenomenon,
endangering not only the user himself, but also his surrounding environment and society at large. Although such abuse is particularly prevalent among disconnected youth, as well as troubled and marginal populations, there is no doubt that today it is penetrating into all levels of the society, even those once considered low risk.
Drug and alcohol abuse is a multifaceted, multidimensional problem. It
contains economic, cultural, educational, social and legal components,
each of which "impacts" to a greater or lesser degree on the population and place where the problem exists - and at the same time its effect influences joint efforts by various authorities and governmental offices, as well as international cooperation to help reduce the extent of the problem. In Israel, as in other countries, there are a number of authorities dealing with the issue of drug and alcohol abuse, including governmental offices, voluntary bodies, law enforcement and judicial authorities, etc. The central authority coordinating the activities of all the agencies is the Anti-Drug Authority (ADA). Its aim is to advance education and prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, research and evaluation, personnel and training development, community activities, etc. The course aims to introduce the function of these authorities both separately and together, and to investigate possible solutions according to the different realities in each country.
Computerized information systems and computing technologies have
penetrated into every aspect of our lives - offices, banks, supermarkets,
stores, private homes and educational institutions. The management of a
modern state, says Uzi Israeli, requires its leaders to develop and uphold
national information systems that will assist the government in making
decisions concerning their strategic needs, supply effective tools for
planning and control, and enable the various authorities to execute the
government's policy on the operative level and provide services to all its
citizens. The developing world is facing the challenge of how to integrate
modern technology into basic industries, essential to their economic
growth, in order to enable them to be part of the larger world of
communications.
It is with this in mind that the Aharon Ofri International Study Centre
is offering a seminar on Computerization of Social Systems in early 1997.
The seminar will concentrate specifically on the fields of education,
municipal administration, social welfare and health, and aim to meet the
specific interests of the participants. Major topics of the seminar include strategic and tactical uses of computerized information systems in
education, health and other social systems, meetings with administrators of institutions and projects at national and regional levels simulations,
panel discussions and group work preparation of final projects, either on
an individual or group level, according to the professional interest of
each of the participants, based on meeting the educational needs of each
participant's country.
In addition to the courses and seminars taking place in Jerusalem, the
Aharon Ofri Study Centre also organizes on-the-spot courses in conjunction
with MASHAV. In 1996 Israeli educators traveled to Minsk, Belorus
(education), to Lithuania (special education), Argentina (education for
science) and Panama (community education.)
Why do many people seek Israel when it comes to education? muses Uzi
Israeli. What is the relative advantage of Israel in this field? He lists a number of reasons. He cites, first of all, the high percentage of
participation of the Israeli population within the educational framework:
96% of all 4-6-year-old pre-schoolers find themselves in a formal
educational system. Science is being taught in primary schools, and
technological studies within the formal education system reach all Israeli
youngsters under the age of 18. Uzi Israeli talks of the comprehensive
school - in which children from different social levels and a curriculum of technological, academic and vocational tracks - are all integrated under one roof. In Israel there are agricultural youth villages which offer high-tech studies along with academic studies. In both the comprehensive schools and the agricultural youth villages, he adds, the youngsters learn not only formal subjects, but by living with youngsters from different social and ethnic backgrounds, they experience social values as well. The same is true in the country's development towns with their rich formal and informal educational framework, says the director of the Study Centre, adding that special attention is paid to rural areas. "All this combines to make the subject of education in this country attractive to those from other countries."
So attractive, in fact, that in January 1996 some 1,000 researchers and
curriculum developers from around the world came to Israel's capital to
participate in JISTEC (Jerusalem International Science and Technology
Education Conference), the second of its kind to take place here. Parallel
to the experts' deliberations were meetings of 28 ministers of education
from 28 countries, discussing similar themes relevant to their respective
populations.
One of the staff members who accompanied the Study Centre almost from the
time of its establishment and who contributed to the consolidation of its
unique way was Arie Dagan, who passed away in July, 1996, suddenly, to
everyone's great sorrow.
Arie Dagan was the well-liked coordinator for the Spanish courses and, in
the special way he fulfilled his duties, he expressed all the experience he acquired over the years as a kibbutz member, as administrative director for the Lachish region moshavs, and as an agricultural instructor in Israel and in various Latin American countries. He devoted himself to his work at the Study Centre in Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. He loved people and people loved him. He took special care of others, assisting them in every way, projecting a sense of "home" to those far from home and of "father" to those away from family. You could always turn to him and be assured he would find a solution to any problem.
Arie Dagan strived to enrich the course participants beyond the study
material, organizing for them extra curriculum activities such as lectures
and tours. He possessed a perfect combination of professional experience,
profound knowledge about the cultural and psychological backgrounds of the
students, an ability for interpersonal communication and good
organizational skills. This combination enabled him to greatly contribute
to the consolidation of the identity and philosophy of the Study Centre.
The Aharon Ofri International Study Centre has seen some 1,500 trainees
within its walls since its establishment in 1989. Named after the late
Aharon Ofri, who served diligently with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in many countries, including in Uganda, Burundi, the Central
African Republic, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, and who bore the problems
of the developing world close to his heart, the Study Centre and its staff of educators seek to promote education for all and to expand its vision of learning in this and future decades.